"Beating Heart" is a song recorded by English singer
Ellie Goulding for the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...
to the film ''
Divergent'' (2014). The song was written by Goulding and
Joe Janiak, and produced by
Greg Kurstin
Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018, and written and produced four songs ...
. It was released on 22 April 2014 as the second single from the soundtrack.
Background and composition
British singer-songwriter
Joe Janiak wrote the original version of "Beating Heart" on
banjo in 2012. He took inspiration from dropping off his American girlfriend at the London airport, before Goulding heard the song and reworked some of the lyrics. On 23 January 2014, it was confirmed that Goulding's "Beating Heart" would be included on the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...
to the 2014 film ''
Divergent'', based on the
dystopian novel
Utopian and dystopian fiction are genres of speculative fiction that explore social and political structures. Utopian fiction portrays a setting that agrees with the author's ethos, having various attributes of another reality intended to appeal to ...
of the same name by
Veronica Roth
Veronica Anne Roth (born August 19, 1988) is an American novelist and short story writer, known for her bestselling ''Divergent'' trilogy which has sold more than 35 million copies worldwide.
Personal life
Veronica Roth was born on August 19, ...
. According to ''Divergent'' director
Neil Burger
Neil Norman Burger (born November 22, 1963) is an American filmmaker. He is known for the fake-documentary ''Interview with the Assassin'' (2002), the period drama '' The Illusionist'' (2006), '' Limitless'' (2011), and the sci-fi action film '' ...
, "We started working on the film with songs from Ellie Goulding's album ''
Halcyon
Halcyon is a name originally derived from Alcyone of Greek mythology.
Halcyon or Halcyone may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Television
* ''Halcyon'' (TV series), a Virtual Reality murder mystery on SyFy
* '' The Halcyon'', British period ...
'' and soon found that the texture of her music and the tone of her voice matched perfectly with our film." In an interview with
Matt Lauer
Matthew Todd Lauer (; born December 30, 1957) is an American former television news personality, best known for his work with NBC News. After serving as a local news personality in New York City on WNBC, his first national exposure was as the ne ...
on the American morning television show ''
Today
Today (archaically to-day) may refer to:
* Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now''
* Current era, present
* The current calendar date
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...
'' on 12 March, Goulding said, "I had the song, and I performed it and recorded it, and I had given it to
Greg Kurstin
Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018, and written and produced four songs ...
to produce it. I didn't know they were gonna use it for the film, but actually, when I thought about it, I thought it was kind of perfect, and it really suited the whole theme."
The song plays over the
end credits
Closing credits or end credits are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television program, or video game. Where opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to, or at the very end of ...
of ''Divergent''.
While filming the music video for "Beating Heart", Goulding told
MTV News that the song is about "being away from someone or knowing that you're always going to have to be apart from someone that you really love." She added, "And it's painful, but it's hopeful because there's always a chance that they'll collide again like two people collide. Like the universe will bring them back together. I think the song is basically that. Sort of relying on the fact that if you're meant to be drawn back together you will be."
Release and promotion
A
lyric video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
for "Beating Heart" premiered on the ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' website on 24 February 2014, featuring scenes from ''Divergent''. That same day, the song debuted on
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
as
Zane Lowe
Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter.
After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...
's Hottest Record.
On 25 February, the track was made available for pre-order as part of the ''Divergent'' soundtrack album on
iTunes in North America. "Beating Heart" was serviced to
contemporary hit radio stations in the United States on 22 April 2014.
Goulding appeared on the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
morning television show ''
Today
Today (archaically to-day) may refer to:
* Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now''
* Current era, present
* The current calendar date
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...
'' on 12 March 2014 to perform an acoustic version of the song.
On 13 April, Goulding performed "Beating Heart" at the
2014 MTV Movie Awards, followed by a performance of
Zedd
Anton Zaslavski (russian: Антон Заславский; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a Russian-born German DJ, record producer, and songwriter.
Zedd grew up and began his musical journey in Kaiserslautern, G ...
's song "
Find You"—also from the ''Divergent'' soundtrack—featuring
Matthew Koma
Matthew Bair (born June 2, 1987), known professionally as Matthew Koma, is an American singer, songwriter, DJ and record producer. Songs written by Koma include "Spectrum" and Grammy Award-winner "Clarity", both performed by Zedd. Koma has colla ...
and
Miriam Bryant
Miriam Melanie Bryant (born 8 March 1991) is a Finnish-Swedish singer and songwriter.
Biography
Influenced by her British father's musical heritage and her Finnish mother's melancholy, Miriam Bryant began to write songs in November 2011 togethe ...
. She also performed the song on ''
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was pro ...
'' on 15 April.
Commercial performance
"Beating Heart" made its first chart appearance on the
Canadian Hot 100, where it debuted and peaked at number 79 on the issue dated 15 March 2014.
The song debuted at number 98 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart dated 5 April 2014, having sold 55,000 downloads as of 23 March. The following week, it rose to its peak position of number 88.
In Australia, "Beating Heart" entered the
ARIA Singles Chart at number 52, peaking at number 38 the following week.
The single debuted at number 20 on the
New Zealand Singles Chart
The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Music ...
, falling to number 27 the following week.
In early June 2014, "Beating Heart" debuted on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
at number nine with 23,849 copies sold, becoming Goulding's seventh top-10 single.
Music video
The music video for "Beating Heart" was directed by Ben Newbury, and shows Goulding in her fear landscape. The video begins with Goulding standing in a dark room drinking the simulation serum like the serum in the film and sees herself in a simulation, where she is in a misty forest. She meets a mysterious young man (model Diego Barrueco) in the forest, and as she turns to walk away, she is pulled closer to him. The simulation ends and Goulding is seen standing in the same dark room.
Following the premiere of the video on 11 March 2014 on
MTV and MTV.com, Goulding joined ''Divergent'' stars
Shailene Woodley
Shailene Diann Woodley (born November 15, 1991) is an American actress. Born in San Bernardino, California, Woodley was raised in Simi Valley, and started modeling at the age of four and began acting professionally in minor television roles. She ...
and
Theo James
Theo is a given name and a hypocorism.
Greek origin
Many names beginning with the root "Theo-" derive from the Ancient Greek word ''theos'' (''θεός''), which means god, for example:
*Feminine names: Thea, Theodora, Theodosia, Theophania, ...
for an interview with
MTV News correspondent Christina Garibaldi to discuss the film, streaming live from MTV's New York City studio. The video was made available exclusively for 24 hours on MTV.com after it premiered. On 28 March 2014, the music video was uploaded to Goulding's official
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
account.
Track listings
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''
Divergent: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack''.
Recording
* Vocals recorded at
British Grove Studios
British Grove Studios is a recording studio located at 20 British Grove in Chiswick, West London, and owned by musician Mark Knopfler.
British Grove Studios was built by David Stewart, the studio's former manager, and commissioned by Knopfler as ...
(London, England)
* Production recorded at Echo Studios (Los Angeles, California)
* Mixed at MixStar Studios (
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...
)
* Mastered at Whitfield Mastering (London, England)
Personnel
*
Ellie Goulding – vocals
*
Greg Kurstin
Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018, and written and produced four songs ...
– production, engineering, vocal production, keyboards, drums
* Alex Pasco – additional engineering
*
Joe Kearns
Joe or JOE may refer to:
Arts
Film and television
* ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle
* ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage
* ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971
* ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...
– co-production, vocal recording
* Andy Cook – vocal recording assistance
*
Serban Ghenea
Șerban Ghenea (born October 13, 1969) is a Grammy award-winning Romanian-Canadian audio engineer and mixer.
Early life and education
Ghenea was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1969. In 1976 he moved to Montreal with his family. He later attended ...
– mixing
* John Hanes – engineering for mix
* Naweed Ahmed – mastering
Charts
Certifications
Release history
References
{{authority control
2014 singles
2014 songs
Ellie Goulding songs
Interscope Records singles
Polydor Records singles
Song recordings produced by Greg Kurstin
Songs written by Ellie Goulding
Songs written by Joe Janiak
Songs written for films
The Divergent Series